DVD
REVIEW: TWO WEEKS
09/14/07
Creating parallel
narratives and slowly merging these narratives together in
film while providing interested and emotional characters
capable of making audiences not only relate to them, but to
feel emotions for those characters is not easy. That’s why
high credits and awards have been given to directors and
writers like writer/director Paul Haggis in his film Crash
or to director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer
Guillermo Arriaga for their films Amores Perros and Babel.
Following this pattern of making films, director Mark Rydell
and newcomer Robert Tannen gives us the film “Two Weeks”.
Movie in which they give an average parallel narrative, but
fail to give life to the characters.
In “Two Weeks” novelist Carolyn Carver (Kim Basinger)
married to a college professor Tom (Ray Liotta) has lost her
inspiration for writing her new novel. In her desperation
Carolyn starts playing slot machines and becomes addicted to
gambling. Eventually her addiction puts her marriage in
jeopardy when she loses all of her family savings. While
playing in the casino she meets Walter (Danny DeVito) an old
fashion magician that will give her hopes to help her
recover her money. In another part of the city and already
in deep trouble with bookies Augie (Jay Mohr) and Murph
(Grant Sullivan), Plumber Clyde Snow (Forest Whitaker) will
put in jeopardy his little brother Godfrey’s (Nick Cannon)
college basketball career by asking for his help to fix a
couple of games. Meanwhile the cops are behind the biggest
bookie in the city Victor (Tim Roth), who works for a
mystery boss called Ivan. All these stories eventually
overlapped creating a more than expected ending.
This film suffers from many downfalls. Twenty minutes into
the movie after learning the background for most of the
characters, the feeling of watching multi episodes from the
80s detective TV show is inevitable. In other words, nothing is
new in theses stories that it hasn't been exposed before.
Another big problem with the film is that the audiences
never get to develop any type of feelings for the
characters, since there is not enough background on what
happened in their lives before becoming addicted gamblers.
Not even the powerful cast recruited for this film was able
to save this picture. At times they seemed out of place and
unrealistic like the scenes between Jay Mohr and Tim Roth
Overall the performance is average. Maybe the cast
followed the directors' idea of creating an anti gambling
film than a more realistic and well done drama.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1:85) Full Screen
AUDIO:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 and
Spanish & French 2.0 Stereo Surround
English & Spanish subtitles
BONUS FEATURES:
Movie Club Discussion
Guide: Featuring several open-ended questions on
both the film itself and on the subject of death and losing
a loved one. This discussion guide promotes a “Book Club”
type of experience, encouraging people to watch the film and
then discuss it in-depth in a group setting. Additional
features include Learning to Live Through Dying,
Learning to Live
Through Dying Featurette: A compelling
documentary featuring interviews with Sally Field, Ben
Chaplin, Tom Cavanaugh, Julianne Nicholson and director
Steve Stockman as they reflect on their experiences while
making the film.
Director’s Commentary
Deleted Scenes:
· Mother’s Jewelry
· Leave the Video Game
· The To-Do List
· Starve a Tumor, Feed a Cold
· The Memorial Service
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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| BONUS
FEATURES |
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